Darkest Before Dawn
by CrazyTeddyBear
Summary: For Charlie,knowing that his daughter was worried wasn't his main problem, nor was it the fact he knew she was trying to hide it from him. It was the fact that he couldn't do anything that really bothered him.During BD.


**A/N: So, just to get the disclaimer out of the way, I am not Stephanie Meyer. Now, about the story; Charlie, for all that he chose to go for the 'need to know basis' is not blind. He would have noticed how nervous Bella was around Christmas, particularly when she dropped Nessie of at his house before going to see J. Jenks. This is his POV of that moment and for a little while after. If you like the Oneshot then please (pretty please with a cherry on top) leave a review.**

**Darkest Before Dawn**

**Charlie POV**

Christmas was coming up pretty soon, and I hadn't talked to Nessie or Bella for a while now. I had no idea what either of them wanted. Bella had been kind of busy in the past few weeks and I hadn't had very much of a chance to talk to her. I assumed it was the fact that Christmas was coming; after all, she had a huge family to buy presents for, not to mention decorating that huge house of theirs must be a chore and a half.

And there was also the matter of Renee; I think Bella knew that with Christmas time Renee was going to push harder to see Bella. Eventually she would manage to contact the right channels at the CDC and find out that Bella wasn't there. After that she would probably start trying to wring information out of me and the Cullens. Christmas time would be a prime time for Renee to come snooping around, and I was definitely expecting her to do so.

I decided that I should call up Bella and see if I could come over to their place today; to warn her about Renee and to visit Renesmee. Nessie was still on that 'growth spurt', and it felt like being away from her for a week was like being away from her like a year, like I was missing whole stages of my granddaughter's development.

I grabbed the phone from the kitchen and dialled the Cullens house number. It rang a few times, which was odd considering that they normally answered it almost instantaneously. "Hello?" someone's voice rang out over the phone, it had a faint accent, I think Middle Eastern, but I couldn't be sure.

I double checked to make sure I had the right number before saying, "I was just wondering if I could talk to Bella."

"Oh, yes. Five seconds."

It was more like five milliseconds when I heard Bella say, "Oh. Thanks Benjamin. It's probably Charlie." there was the usual clicking, fuzzy sound of the phone being passed to someone else, and then Bella's voice rang out across the phone.

"Hey Dad! How are things going?" she sounded happy, cheerful- and definitely overly so. A lot about Bella had changed, but no matter how different she became she would always be a horrible actor. No one could naturally sound that happy with a bunch of people they don't know crammed into their house.

"Nothing much, really. I just haven't seen you and Nessie for a couple of weeks, and I was wondering if I could stop by today for a visit or something."

Bella's answer was immediate, but I had the feeling that there should have been a very long, very awkward pause there. "Well, the house is kind of full right now. We have some distant relatives visiting and, as I'm sure you've guessed, there are a lot of them." she gave a nervous chuckle. Bella had told me that there was company over, it was in passing about a week ago when she brought Nessie here, and she had indicated that the company wasn't exactly _normal._

But then again, in this town who was?

"Oh, how much can it hurt? I'll only be there an hour or so." I pushed a little harder, knowing that it was really not the politest thing that I could have done.

There was a slight, slight pause. It was so miniscule that I barely knew it was there. But it was, I had noticed that everything about Bella had sped up tenfold, and in lee of that I took even the slightest pause as her not knowing quite what to say, since normally it was like I was talking and acting too slow for her.

Not to mention there were those things I had seen but tried to ignore, once Bella's hand moved so quickly it was barely visible. Right after she had did that she froze suddenly, appearing like a statue until she nervously turned to look at me to see if I had noticed.

I pretended that I hadn't.

And once I started pushing, Bella's entire attitude changed, becoming more defensive, more secretive, "Charlie, we've still got that strictly need to know company situation going. I know it's been more than a week since you've seen Renesmee, but a visit is just not a good idea right now. How about I bring Renesmee over to see you?"

I paused for a while, hearing a slight tone of stress and nervousness. Unfortunately, I knew that the need to know thing was important. Bella said that she would have to leave if I dug, so I couldn't dig. That made me more irritated than ever, "Need to know, _ugh." _I groaned, "Okay kid. Can you bring her over this morning? Sue's bringing me lunch. She's just as horrified by my cooking as you were when you first showed up."

I laughed for a bit at that, then I sighed, wondering what Bella's life would be like if she had never come here. Would it have been better? Would she have had a normal life, a normal husband? Then again, when I think about it I don't think that would have been right for Bella. That very first day I had seen her after her change she looked different, nervous as hell because of me, but also more confident, happier. Bella had found her niche in the world, and I don't think that she could find another one- she had never fitted in with normal people. Renee had often called me worriedly about how she couldn't make friends, or about how she had no social life at all. Bella was happy now, and because of that I could be happy too.

Bella's voice came across the phone again, "This morning will be perfect." this time she talked with honest, open happiness, unlike when she had first picked up the phone.

"Is Jake coming with you guys?" I would have to be blind not to notice the way Jake clung to Nessie, like she was his lifeline in the scary world Bella was in. It was odd to see how a baby could affect a guy as big as Jake, but if you looked at my life then you would realise everything was odd.

"Probably." Bella growled out. I guess she's still not to happy with Jake for some reason.

"Maybe I should invite Billy too... but hmmm... maybe another time." I thought carefully. Billy hadn't seen his son for a while, but I couldn't help but feel slightly irritated around him right now. Not only had he known about all of this long before me, but he had hidden it from me even though my own daughter was in danger. Now he had the _nerve _to act like Bella was some kind of monster, like she was guilty of some ultimate crime for adopting Nessie and having Jake at her house. Like she and the Cullens were to blame for all of Jake's problems.

But surely he would realise that the Cullens weren't actually that bad if he spent some time with them? What on earth was making him so closed off to the subject?

"See you in a few, Charlie." she said, snapping me back to reality as she hung up the phone before I had a chance to say goodbye.

I decided to start getting out the Christmas decorations to put them up, if Nessie was anything like Bella then she would love to help me put them up. Who doesn't like Christmas? Eventually I heard Edward's car pull into the driveway. I opened the door for them and was surprised to see Bella driving the Volvo instead of Edward. If anything could be said about the car, it was that my son in law was strangely protective of it.

They got to the door and I said, "Hey guys! It seems like it's been years! Look at you, Nessie! Come to grandpa! I swear you've grown half a foot. And you look skinny, Ness. Aren't they feeding you up there?" I turned to glare at Bella, who looked awkwardly at the ground.

"It's just a growth spurt." she mumbled awkwardly, "Hey, Sue." she said, obviously trying to change the subject. I refrained from rolling my eyes and let it slide.

I winked at Nessie and she flashed me her usual bright, happy grin. "Well, come on in out of the cold, kids. Where's my son in law?" I went to the side of the hall, letting them pass into the entry way while they took their shoes off.

"Entertaining friends," Jacob said sourly, looking pretty irritated. Then, suddenly, he snorted. "You're _so _lucky to be out of the loop Charlie. That's all I'm going to say."

I thanked him for that, but it didn't exactly make me feel more comfortable about being 'out of the loop'.

Bella turned and nailed Jacob in the kidney with a punch. Jacob winced and I cringed- Bella was going to break the kid if she kept that up. I tried to push the fact that last time Bella had tried to punch the kid she had broken a knuckle without doing any damage whatsoever.

"Ow."Jacob complained, but despite that he was grinning again.

Bella tucked her hands behind her back like she was confessing some great sin and said, "Actually, Charlie, I have some errands to run."

"Behind on your Christmas shopping, Bells?" I asked, trying to give her the easy out explanation so she wouldn't have to try and think up one of her bad lies, "You only have a few days, you know."

"Yeah, Christmas shopping..." she trailed off lamely.

"Don't worry Nessie," I stage whispered in my Granddaughter's ear, "I got you covered if your mom drops the ball." Renesmee giggled and Bella rolled her eyes at me.

"Lunch is on the table!" I heard Sue call, "C'mon, guys."

"See you later, dad." Bella said, before exchanging a quick 'don't say anything about me' look with Jake. I waved goodbye and internally shook my head, Bella shouldn't have to worry about keeping me in the dark. I wasn't planning to pry and add more of a burden on her.

The worried look I saw on her face in the car's rear view mirror was more than enough to stop me from doing that.

**The end.**

**Well kind of, the story continues as you all know. This is just the end of my oneshot. Review, and if there are enough of them maybe I'll write another one- assuming that you aren't telling me not too, of course [=**


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